Jacob de Backer* (1560-1590/1)

An Allegory of Truth and Justice (The Psalm of David, LXXXIV, 10-11)

Details
Jacob de Backer* (1560-1590/1)
An Allegory of Truth and Justice (The Psalm of David, LXXXIV, 10-11)
oil on canvas
72 x 57.1/8in. (183 x 145cm.)
Provenance
Mr. Lize, Rouen; sale, Hotel Druot, Paris, March 25-8, 1901, lot 279, as Primaticcio.
Anon. Sale, Rouen, Nov. 27-8, 1972, lot 247bis, as School of Fontainebleau.

Lot Essay

Another, almost identical, version by de Backer was sold at Hotel Druot, Paris, June 26, 1989, lot 47. He treated the theme, which was a popular one for South Netherlandish artists in the first part of the 16th century, again, in a painting now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone, Kunsten, Antwerp.

David, the shepherd boy who became King of Israel, is traditionally believed to be the author of the Psalms from which the subject of the present lot is taken. As a statesman, he was responsible for making Israel into a united kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.